How can you help our nonprofit send care packages to some of the most remote of the roughly 225,000 U.S. military troops serving overseas in 2017?

1) Donate Financially - Our greatest need is cash for our mailing costs. With no paid staff, we strive to maximize the use of donations. We are a 501(c)(3) charity, so your gifts are tax deductible. We accept checks to Airborne Angel Cadets of Texas, P.O. Box 116691, Carrollton, TX 75011. You can donate via credit card through our Click and Pledge account.

2) Donate Goods - Our all-volunteer charity is based in the Dallas area, but receives product donations from across the USA for care packages for our Soldiers and Troops overseas. We kindly request that you contact us at support@airborneangelcadets.com before sending any care package goods.

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9/18/2012

Dallas Morning News mentions Airborne Angel Cadets

Jacquielynn Floyd of the Dallas Morning News wrote a great article today mentioning our care package efforts for American soldiers still fighting a war in Afghanistan. Excerpts below and link to the full article:

Have you heard? There’s a war on. It’s easy to forget, with our more immediate preoccupations and lamentably short attention spans, that nearly 100,000 U.S. troops are still deployed in Afghanistan.

... Another Dallas-based support organization, Airborne Angel Cadets, maintains its determination to ship out care packages to thousands of deployed U.S. soldiers “until everybody’s home.”

This is a remarkable group, which has sent off a shipment at least once every six weeks since 2005. The Airborne Angels (so called because the original founder is a flight attendant) sent more than 3,000 cartons of goods last year and is targeting 4,000 for 2012.

“It has become harder,” said Amber Oler, a spokesman and board member for the group that includes about 75 volunteers. “Part of it is the economy, and part of it is ‘out of sight, out of mind.’”

These groups also serve active-duty soldiers who never get any public attention — those, for instance, still stationed in Iraq or in other remote posts. Oler said Airborne Angels supplies some encampments with as many as 1,500 troops and some with as few as 30.The absolute simplicity of the things some of these soldiers regard as rare and fabulous treats is enough to make your heart hurt.

My favorite photo posted to their website shows U.S. soldiers sharing care-package items from a “Texas Fiesta” themed shipment with Afghan children at an impromptu party. The excited kids are wearing sombreros and whacking away at a candy-filled piñata.

What the USO needs — and the Cadets and all the groups out there still faithfully illustrating that “supporting the troops” really does run deeper than a bumper sticker — is cash.

Mailing costs for getting those boxes to the other side of the world are enormous, and volunteers are by experience the best judges of what particular groups of soldiers need and want.

“Mail day is like Christmas for us here,” say several soldiers’ letters, echoing what I heard from my brother so many times.

It’s not just the treats and gifts. For a soldier on the other side of the world, it’s proof that you’re not stuck here in an often hostile, sometimes terrifying place on your own.

“Supporting the troops” isn’t a political slogan. It’s just about ordinary gratitude and decency.

2017 Donations

Funding for postage is our biggest need.Your donation to support the troops is greatly appreciated!Total Amount raised as of October 26, 2017: $86,3432017 Yearly Fundraising Goal: $150,000!Click on logo above to donate. You will receive a donation receipt.

Overview Of Our Work

We have about 150 volunteers. No paid staff.We send soldiers care packages year round.We ship to about 12,000 troops overseas each year.About 250,000 U.S. military troops are deployed overseas.We expect to mail 3,000+ cartons in 2017.

We support American troops from all 50 States.We support all branches of the U.S. military.We do not concentrate on any one group.We focus on troops serving in remote areas.We have been sending care packages since 2005.We welcome support from Americans in any State.